Snippets of things said at the June 7 Gulfport City Council meeting.
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As you’re aware, the governor signed the state budget bill the other day, $109.9 billion. Subsequently he also vetoed $3.1 billion worth of projects. Unfortunately our Town Shores water line project was one of those. But there are 12 pages of vetoes that include Moffitt Cancer Center and the University of South Florida. He made a political statement with his veto pen. We can submit something again for next year’s budget. –Gulfport City Manager Jim O’Reilly
We received the first blush of our estimated property value increase and it is 14%. I believe only one other city in Pinellas County had a larger one, and that was 15% in Indian Rocks Beach. That’s due to the number of short-term rentals they have. –Gulfport City Manager Jim O’Reilly
I want to thank you for all you do. It’s a difficult job, but even more difficult because of social media. –Karen Love
Complaint-driven. I’m so sick of that term in this town already. Complaint-driven, complaint-driven. Everything is complaint-driven. Then why do we have ordinances if everything is really just about complaining? Between dogs on the beach, dogs off leash, smoking in the playground areas, fires on the beach, and – last but not least – short-term rentals, nothing is being enforced without us having to complain, complain, complain. I have a couple of sincere questions. Does “complaint-driven” mean that when I come here to complain, it works? Or do I have to make phone calls to complain every time I see things I perceive to be dangerous? Chief Vincent recently went on Facebook and told us the number to use (727-582-6177) when we see dogs on the beach. Is that the same number we use to complain about other things? When do we call code enforcement versus when do we call the police? What does it mean every time I call code enforcement when I receive a message that says, due to COVID protocol, there is a higher number of calls and they may not be able to return them? How long is that going to go on? What does “COVID protocol” mean and how long is that going to last? It seems like time to get back to business. If code enforcement is too big of a job, maybe it’s time to invest some funds in another position there. I would very much like to encourage a step in the right direction as far as educating our residents in terms of what our ordinance is right now. Tell them how to report when they see things that aren’t being done. Tell them what realistic expectations are if they call code enforcement to report something like this and never hear back. –Karen Love
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